The long term effect of biochar application on soil microbial biomass is not well understood. We measured soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) in a field experiment during a winter wheat growing season after four consecutive years of no (CK), 4.5 (B4.5) and 9.0 t biochar ha(-1) yr(-1) (B9.0) applied. For comparison, a treatment with wheat straw residue incorporation (SR) was a...

This study investigated the influence of nitrogen (N) fertilizer and straw on intact amino acid N uptake by soil microorganisms and the relationship between amino acid turnover and soil properties during the wheat growing season. A wheat pot experiment was carried out with three treatments: control (CK), N fertilizer (NF) and N fertilizer plus rice straw (NS). We used stable isotope compound-sp...

Nitrogen addition to soil can play a vital role in influencing the losses of soil carbon by respiration in N-deficient terrestrial ecosystems. The aim of this study was to clarify the effects of different levels of nitrogen fertilization (HN, 200 kg N ha year; MN, 100 kg N ha year; LN, 50 kg N ha year) on soil respiration compared with non-fertilization (CK, 0 kg N ha year), from July 2007 to S...

Soil was sterilized by various procedures, and then the resident microorganisms were physically separated and concentrated from the soil for viewing by transmission electron microscopy as thin sections and frozen-etched preparation. Remaining cell viability in the soil was tested by conventional plating before and after enrichment culture. The soil proved to be sterile after treatment with 60Co...

Nitrogen (N) fertilization may profoundly affect soil microbial communities. In this study, a field fertilization experiment was conducted in temperate grassland in Inner Mongolia, China to examine the effect of N fertilization on soil microbial properties and the main factors related to the characteristics of soil microbial community. Soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial functiona...

Accumulation of phosphorus in soil is a major factor limiting the operational life of land application waste disposal systems. Moreover, for nutrient management purposes and evaluation of potential environmental problems it is necessary to understand the impact of manure application on soil phosphorus sorption characteristics. In this study laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate t...

The vertical distribution of dominant genera of bacterivorous nematodes to 150-cm depth in an aquic brown soil was compared after 14 years of four contrasting land uses, i.e., cropland-rice (CR), cropland-maize (CM), abandoned cropland (AC), and woodland (WL). The study was conducted at the Shenyang Experimental Station of Ecology, a Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN) site in Northeast C...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are critical links in plant-soil continuum and play a critical role in soil carbon cycles. Soil respiration, one of the largest carbon fluxes in global carbon cycle, is sensitive to precipitation change in semiarid ecosystems. In this study, a field experiment with fungicide application and water addition was conducted during 2010-2013 in a semiarid steppe in ...